Yarn handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus is provided for handling yarns to be bulked by taking them from a treating area, such as a liquid reservoir, passing them into a housing means that contains at least one guide that is positioned so that any material thrown off the traveling yarn is not thrown toward or onto the oncoming yarn, the yarn so removed of material then being passed into a jet for bulking, the inlet end of the jet being in conduit relationship with the housing means and the separated material being conducted back to the reservoir, the housing means being in conduit relationship with the reservoir. In one embodiment, there is located on a wall of the housing a screen which breaks streams of liquid directed against it into small droplets, reducing spray.

United States Patent Taylor [54] YARN HANDLING APPARATUS [72] Inventor: Lewk A. Taylor, Wilmington, Del. [73] Assignee: Enterprbe Machine and Development Corp.

[22] Filed: March 11, 1970 [2]] Appl. No.: 18,510

[52] US. Cl l l8/423, 28/1 .4 [5| 1 Int. Cl. ..B05c 3/00 [58] Field otSearch ..28/l.4,$2, 72.12, 75; l l8/4 I9, 420, 423

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS $59,565 5/!896 Briggs v l I8/42O 2,062,07l 1 H1936 Rossiter ..l I8/420 3,000,168 9/196! Penland ..28/72. I 2 X 3,203,826 8/1965 Stobicrski ..l [8/420 X 3,471,322 10/1969 Medney.............................l18/420 X Primary Examiner-Louis K. Rimrodt Anorney-C. Walter Mortenson ABSTRACT Apparatus is provided for handling yams to be bulked by taking them from a treating area, such as a liquid reservoir, passing them into a housing means that contains at least one guide that is positioned so that any material thrown off the traveling yarn is not thrown toward or onto the oncoming yarn, the yarn so removed of material then being passed into a jet for bulking, the inlet end of the jet being in conduit relationship with the housing means and the separated material being conducted back to the reservoir, the housing means being in conduit relationship with the reservoir: In one embodiment, there is located on a wall of the housing a screen which breaks streams of liquid directed against it into small droplets, reducing spray.

[0 Claims, 4 Drawing figures YARN HANDLING APPARATUS It is well known that continuous filament yarns can be processed by passing them through a jet along with air that is under pressure to convert them to bulky yarns. A multitude of crunodal filament loops are produced at random along individual filaments. The entanglement of these loops appreciably increases the bulk of the yams. Fabrics made from such bulked yarns have improved cover and hand.

In the processing of such yarns through such a jet it is frequently desired to treat the continuous filaments in the yarn with a, liquid prior to their being passed through the jet. Difficulties are encountered in this step, because the yarns pick up and carry away a substantial amount of liquid which must be reduced in amount to prevent soaking the area. The problem is aggravated by the fact that the yarns are moving at a very high rate of speed. I-Iithertofore, there has been no satisfactory way of controlling the amount of liquid that is on the yarn just prior to its entering the jet. Thus, excess liquid has been thrown off under uncontrolled conditions and in a way that scatters liquid over all the adjacent apparatus, the floor and the like.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is the provision of apparatus for producing bulky yarn in a manner that avoids the above difficulties. Another purpose is to provide apparatus for continuously wetting a moving bundle of filaments and passing them to a liquid removing means to get rid of excess liquid prior to the jetting step. A still further purpose is the provision of a liquid removing means which collects the excess liquid and returns it to the reservoir. These and other objectives will be seen hereinafter.

The aims of this invention are accomplished by the provision of a chamber which contains a plurality of guides each of which is staggered as to the others and is adapted to receive a continuous filament and pass it on to the next receiving element. The inlet end of the container usually is of a size and shape that corresponds to the outlet or shape of a reservoir that contains a liquid through or over which the filament is passed just prior to its entering the chamber. At the top of the chamber is an outlet to which a conventional jet can be positioned, and there may be a plurality of such outlets and jets. The chamber generally has a removable front wall, usually made of a transparent material. When this wall is in place, the chamber is entirely enclosed except for the inlet end which is in conduit relationship with the reservoir and except for the exit end at the top which is in conduit relationship with the jet. As the wet filaments pass over the guide excess liquid is thrown ofi. The guides may be pulleys or stationary elements such as pins, rods, pigtail shafts, eyelets or the like. In any event, liquid is thrown generally onto one of the inside surfaces of the container whether it be from centrifugal forces or from changes in direction of the yarn traveling at high speed. Since the container is vertically positioned above the reservoir, such excess liquid collects and drains downwardly and back into the reservoir. Since each of the guides is in a position that is not directly above or directly behind another guide, very little liquid is thrown back onto advancing filaments. To prevent such further throw-back even more, the in side walls of the container can be supplied with a fine mesh screen. This receives and holds liquid, reducing splashing still further. The walls can also be roughened to contain hills and valleys.

This invention also provides a yarn holding and guiding means which may be positioned on the liquid reservoir or on the chamber. It is a pivotable device containing two yarn guiding elements. One of these elements during a wetting operation is immersed in the liquid and holds and guides the yarn through the liquid. The other of these elements is always outside of the reservoir and is positioned to guide the yarn from its source to a first and immersed element. The pivotable nature of this element affords ready immersion in and removal of the yarn from the liquid bath.

This invention may be seen by reference to the description below and to the drawings, all of which is given for illustrative purposes and is not limitative, the drawings being described as follows:

FIG. I is a front elevation of apparatus of this invention in operating position showing one of a series of liquid reservoirs;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a source of yarn and showing the chamber;

FIG. 3 is an end view, the lower pan being in section, and viewing the apparatus of FIG. 1 from a position at the exit end of the jet; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing provision for a multiplicity of yarns and jets.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, a pipe of any length desired is equipped with an inlet ll and an outlet 12 for the liquid 13 (FIG. 3) that is to be used in treating the incoming yarn 14. This liquid is normally just ordinary water, and it can be passed through the reservoir 10 in a continuous manner, circulating it if desired, or it can be flushed down a drain. At the upper part of the pipe, above the level of the liquid 13, is an opening 15 which is generally of a rectangular size and shape. This afi'ords the formation of an edged surface 16 which acts as a support for the yarn guide 17.

This yarn guide is best seen in FIG. 3 where it is shown both in operative position (solid lines) and in inoperative position, this by phantom lines 18. The yarn I4 is passed from a source 19 (FIG. 2) to an eye or loop 20 from which it is passed downwardly to the eye or loop 21 which is immersed in the liquid 13. In this passage the filaments in yarn 14 are thoroughly wetted with liquid 13. During string-up or if the operator desires to remove the yarn 14 from liquid 13, he merely pushes the eye element 20 downwardly causing it and its co-acting eye element 21 to pivot about pivot point 22. Loop 21 is thus brought up out of the liquid and completely out of the reservoir, if desired, and placed into the inoperative position shown by dotted lines 18. As shown, both in FIG. I and FIG. 2, the guide element 17 may be equipped with two sets of loops 20, 21 and 40, 41 to afford treatment of two different yarns. In fact, the size of the cut in the reservoir and the size of the other apparatus of this invention can be such that even more than two yarns can be simultaneously treated. For convenience, in FIGS. 1-3 only two guiding elements are shown along with the processing of only one yarn. It is apparent that the size of the apparatus, the number of sets of pulleys, etc., may be varied as desired and FIG. 4 shows that.

From FIG. 1 it can be seen that the chamber 23 of this invention comprises a top 24, a back wall 25, a back side wall 26, a front side wall 27, and an inclined wall 28. The front wall 29 is shown in FIG. 3 and it has a length which is slightly longer than the height of the chamber 23 to afford an extension 30 which can be used as a gripping means to remove it from the housing 23 and which may be made to lie fiush with the top 24 so that a portion of front wall 29 extends downwardly into the reservoir. There are provided clips 3! which are mounted to the side walls of chamber 23 to form channels into which the front cover 29 is placed and in which and by which the cover is held in place. Generally, there are three or four such clips 31 as can be seen in FIG. I. As shown in FIG. 1, the housing can be mounted on reservoir 10 by means of a bracket 25a and threaded stud 25b co-acting with reservoir 10 to hold the chamber in upright conduit relationship with opening IS. It is understood that the source of liquid, if liquid is being used, may be something other than the reservoir 10, as, for example, a wetted sponge, a shallow dish or cup, a spray and the like and that the apparatus of this invention need not be mounted to the source and could be positioned apart from it. Generally, it is desired to position the apparatus in close proximity to the source if the incoming yarn is wet for best housekeeping results.

As shown in FIG. I, the wetted yarn 14 comes directly from the liquid in an upward fashion and into chamber 23 passing to a pulley 32 and from that pulley to a second pulley 33. As can be seen in both FIGS. 2 and 3, these two pulleys are not directly above each other but are staggered. The yarn coming from the uppermost pulley 33 pases into the jet 34 where it is bulked by the incoming air that enters through inlet 35 (FIG. 1). During the passage of the yarn through chamber 23 liquid is thrown in all directions by the moving yarn, but most of the liquid that is thrown flies in a direction parallel to that in which the yarn is moving. Thus, most of the liquid is thrown away from each of the pulleys in a path that is right in line with the rotational center of the pulley. Since the rotational circumference of the pulley on which the yarn rode in a given pulley is some distance to one side of the corresponding rotational circumference on which the yarn has just ridden or on which the yarn is just to ride, most of the liquid leaves the yarn not to return to it unless it splashes back off the walls of the chamber. However, most of the walls are of a distance sufficiently removed from the guides, such as pulleys, so that there is little, if any, splash back. Since most of the liquid thrown off is directed against the back side wall 26, a screen 36 may be positioned on this back wall, as shown in FIG. I. This screen is of a fine mesh and liquid hitting it is contained by it to a greater degree than a bare, smooth wall would contain it, so that the liquid drains downwardly on screen 36 in a smooth, even flow coming to incline wall 28 and back into the reservoir which may be two chambered, one to contain only fresh liquid and the other to receive and flush drainage from the chamber 23, the partition effecting such chambers not being shown for convenience.

As can also be seen from each of FIGS. 1-3, chamber 36 is equipped with a second pair of pulleys 37 and 39 which can be used to process a second continuous filament yarn which would, of course, be passed through the filament guide 17 using a second eye or loop member thereon, 40. A second immersion loop corresponding to 21 could be used for this second filament. Such a second immersion loop 41 is shown in FIG. 2. The two sets of continuous yarns can be passed through the said loop 21 since they are being wetted and are not in a rubbing contact with each other.

It will be noted from FIGS. 2 and 3 that pulleys 37 and 39 are offset and not in line with each other and are also not in line with the pulleys 32, 33 that are handling yarn I4. Thus, it is apparent that liquids thrown off by any yarn being processed over these pulleys are similarly directed away from other pulleys and other yarns.

The yarn which has been so treated is passed through the jet 34 either by itself or along with any yarn processed in chamber 23 and in passing through jet 34, it is bulked. The bulked yarn emerging from the texturing jet is sent to a wind-up (not shown, for convenience). By the use of the apparatus of this invention, yarns of improved quality are produced. The amount of water that is contained in the yarns prior to their being sent to the jet can be readily controlled. For example, the length of time in which they are immersed can be adjusted to effect the desired amount of wetting. Similarly, the optimum length of travel in the liquid can be determined for a given yarn. Upon leaving the liquid reservoir, knowing the desired speed of the yarn for jetting purposes, the operator can cause the given wetted yarn to travel over as many guides as desired to effect the optimum amount of liquid that is thrown out and away from the trAvelling yarn. Still further, any of the pulleys, instead of being idle rollers as they are shown in the drawings, can be motor driven to effect control of yarn travel speed. If desired, the air within the chamber containing the pulleys and the travelling yarn can be circulated or fresh dry air, cool, warm or hot, can be passed through the chamber, in a downward fashion toward the liquid reservoir, if desired, to assist in removal of vapors and droplets as such are formed.

In a number of instances it is desired to pass a plurality of different yarns or filaments through a jet at the same time. This can be accomplished readily using the apparatus of this invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a wall of chamber 23 may be provided with an aperture, there being one shown as element 43 in the top 24 for convenience. Through this may be passed a yarn or filament or the like, element 42, which comes from its source, not shown for convenience, and which need not be wetted but can be dry and can be desired for a variety of reasons. It can be passed over guides such as elements 44 and 45, convenienfly shown as stationary eyelets though they can be any of the guides mentioned above. The element 42 is then passed into jet 34 along with element 14 where it is bulked with the latter. Thus, a given yarn or filament may be passed to jet 34 either alone or along with other elements. Further jet 34 does not have to be positioned on chamber 23 but can, in fact, be located at a place distant from chamber 23. If compactness is desired, one will normally mount the jets on or close to the chamber 23.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, chamber 23A may be of a size sufficient to accommodate more than one jet, the chamber being shown in broken lines between walls 26A and 27A to suggest that an additional jet 34A being positioned on a portion of it near back wall 25A. A second source 19A of yarn is shown. the yarn 14A being passed around pulleys 39 and 37 after having gone through loops 40 and 41 of yarn guide 17.

From the above, it can be seen that the apparatus and process of this invention comprises handling yarns or filaments or die like in any state of dryness whether they be completely dry or partially wet or whether they have just been completely wetted by complete immersion in a liquid. The pivoting of the travelling yarn or the change in its direction as it passes over a guide causes any liquid present to be thrown off and an opening of the yarn results. The individual filaments in a dry yarn are similarly separated from each other in effecting the changes of direction so that if an operator desires, he can use chamber 23 with its staggered guides to advantage in the complete absence of or without using reservoir 10 or its equivalent. The pivotal nature of guide 17 facilitates such uses. Thus, this invention provides very versatile equipment for the handling of yarns and the like.

While the invention has been disclosed herein in connection with certain embodiments and certain structural and proce dural details, it is clear that changes, modifications or equivalents can be used by those skilled in the art; accordingly, such changes within the principles of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the claims below.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for handling a travelling filament or the like which is being passed from a source to another place and which may be carrying with it a material to be removed from it which apparatus comprises at least two guides over which said filament passes; and a housing means wherein said guides are mounted, said guides being positioned in different vertical planes to force said filament to travel in marked changes of directions out of a straight-line path from said source to said other place whereby material leaving said filament as it passes over the guides is not directed onto or into the path of oncoming filament yet to pass over said guides.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said housing means affords walls to receive any material thrown from said filament as it passes over said guide and to afford removal away from said filament of said material so received.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 which has said housing means positioned in conduit relationship with a reservoir for said material thrown from said filament.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in combination with a second filament guide comprising l) a means for guiding said filament to said reservoir which means is located outside of said reservoir, and (2) a means for immersing said filament in liquid contained in said reservoir.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said filament guide is in a pivotable relationship with said reservoir whereby said means for immersing said filament in said liquid may be completely removed from said reservoir taking said filament with it to a position entirely outside of the said reser- VOll'.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim I in which at least one of said inside walls of said housing has a roughened surface.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said housing means has a removable wall.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said guide is a pulley.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said hous- 5 ing means contains an exit for said filament.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 in which said exit is in conduit relationship with a jet. 

1. Apparatus for handling a travelling filament or the like which is being passed from a source to another place and which may be carrying with it a material to be removed from it which apparatus comprises at least two guides over which said filament passes; and a housing means wherein said guides are mounted, said guides being positioned in different vertical planes to force said filament to travel in marked changes of directions out of a straight-line path from said source to said other place whereby material leaving said filament as it passes over the guides is not directed onto or into the path of oncoming filament yet to pass over said guides.
 2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said housing means affords walls to receive any material thrown from said filament as it passes over said guide and to afford removal away from said filament of said material so received.
 3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 which has said housing means positioned in conduit relationship with a reservoir for said material thrown from said filament.
 4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in combination with a second filament guide comprising (1) a means for guiding said filament to said reservoir which means is located outside of said reservoir, and (2) a means for immersing said filament in liquid contained in said reservoir.
 5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said filament guide is in a pivotable relationship with said reservoir whereby said means for immersing said filament in said liquid may be completely removed from said reservoir taking said filament with it to a position entirely outside of the said reservoir.
 6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which at least one of said inside walls of said housing has a roughened surface.
 7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said housing means has a removable wall.
 8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said guide is a pulley.
 9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said housing means contains an exit for said filament.
 10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 in which said exit is in conduit relationship with a jet. 